SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Educate Girls Globally (EGG), a non-profit organization committed to promoting education for girls and general education reform, has entered into a two-year partnership with Africare to implement its community empowerment model for educational reform in Africare's areas of work, including water, sanitation and hygiene at school, community-driven change and education.

Educate Girls Globally empowers communities to take informal ownership of government schools and promote reform. Its model builds capacity in communities to support reform, while promoting community-initiated projects for development—all on the foundation of government schools and in partnership with government ministries of education.

"Educate Girls Globally and Africare share a common commitment to empower communities for community-based development," said A. Lawrence Chickering, Founder and President of EGG. "Having developed our model in two states of India, we have been looking for a partner to expand to Africa; and Africare, which shares our development vision and works in more than twenty-five African countries, is an obvious partner."

Educate Girls Globally has successfully implemented education reform models in two states of India, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, serving more than 300,000 girls. The programs increased community involvement, engaged girls as active participants in promoting change, empowered and trained teachers, and fostered practical plans to help schools reach and teach disadvantaged girls.

"Educated women are the principal agents of social change in developing countries, and EGG works with both governments and local partners to create large-scale, low-cost sustainable programs promoting education for girls," Chickering said. "This partnership with Africare, originally initiated by our Board Co-chair, Joelle O'Reilly-Hyland, will provide a powerful foundation for our plans to expand our program beyond India. By empowering and animating communities, teachers, girls and bureaucrats, they share ownership in the future of girls that prevail in the toughest of circumstances."

"There is no greater issue or bigger challenge facing the global citizenry than attending true gender equality – and the effort to reach that goal starts in the classroom," said Joelle O'Reilly-Hyland. "Whether it's in hallowed halls of preparatory academies in developed countries or ramshackle school buildings in the poorest nations, we must deliver on the promise of giving every woman the same opportunity as their male counterpart."

Both organizations will work cooperatively over the next two years to raise awareness, increase funding, and especially increase community support of Africare's development reform projects.

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"Without ownership, there is little commitment and engagement; and, both Africare and Educate Girls Globally are committed to ensuring that this partnership empowers all of Africa to work together to improve the schools," said Darius Mans, President of Africare.

"Our partnership will create a powerful new approach to meet the two great challenges to scaling social reform initiatives," Chickering said. "First is to focus on partnering with governments, strengthening governmental programs—in our case, education; and second is to empower the poor themselves as major players in promoting change. These are the two great elements in the EGG model, which we are pleased now to introduce into Africare's projects—potentially, in many countries."

About Educate Girls Globally

Educate Girls Globally (EGG) was founded in 1999 to develop a new, integrated strategy for empowering communities to promote girls' education, general education reform, and other economic and social objectives. EGG has developed its model in two states of India and partnered with state ministries of education to impact the lives of 590,000 children (263,000 girls) in about 4,500 schools in Rajasthan and in 1,400 schools serving about 100,000 children (half of them girls) in Uttarakhand. Visit http://www.educategirls.org for more information.

About Africare

Africare is a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to addressing African development and policy issues by working in partnership with African people to build sustainable, healthy and productive communities. Since 1970, Africare has provided well over $1 billion of assistance and support through more than 2,500 projects in Agriculture & Food Security; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Women's Empowerment; and Health, HIV & AIDS that have impacted millions of beneficiaries in 36 countries in Africa. Visit http://www.africare.org for more information.

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